Always at Business

Time goes so fast that some people are caught unaware that life has caught up with them. These people have been very busy taking care of their families that they have forgotten how to prepare for their future especially when they become too old to work.

Every person should prepare for that time when they can just relax and enjoy the fruits of their labor. People who have spent their fruitful years working and supporting their families should be given a chance to lay back, do what they have long wanted to do and live life to the fullest without worrying about financial support.

Not everyone is given the opportunity to enjoy retirement without any worry about their finances. People who want to enjoy their retirement without all the worries should prepare for their retirement now, when they are still able to produce and to work hard.

The best time to prepare for retirement is when a person is still young enough to financially plan for that period in his life when he does not have to worry about work or earning more money. Every person should gift himself with a proper retirement package so that when that time comes, he will be able to go to places he wanted to visit before but did not have the time or resources. Or perhaps, do things that he was not able to do before because he was too busy fending for his family.

Planning for your own retirement should be treated the same way when planning to invest in a house or a car. Every person should set aside even a meager amount from his monthly earnings, to be saved and used for his retirement.

A retirement plan will mean you no longer have to worry whether you have a family to take care of you when you grow old. It means not having to get scared that your children may be so busy living their own lives they will place you in a home for the aged. Preparing for retirement means being secured in the knowledge that something is waiting for you, when you can no longer earn money the way you used to do.

Some people consider retirement as the best years of their life because during this time, they no longer have to worry about working hard and feeding their children. When retirement comes, its just you and your spouse and sometimes, the children who manage to take a break and visit you. For most people, retirement means being free form the hustle and bustle of the daily rat race called life.

Start planning for your retirement and look forward to a life worth living after you are out of the daily grind.

I come across talented Moms all the time. Moms who sew baby slings, nursing clothing, cloth diapers…. Moms who make their own herbal skin care, healing balms, and the like. (Im pretty envious of women who are crafty like this!)

Or maybe they are really good at designing their home school curriculum or writing interesting lesson plans. I know Moms with large families of grown children who could make a million bucks if they wrote a book with their parenting success secrets!

Sometimes I will ask these women if theyve ever thought about taking their interest or hobby to the Internet to earn some income with it. I usually get responses like: I dont know the first thing about how to build a website. or I wouldnt have any idea how to market my business online.

Yet, you may have a ton of knowledge in your head that could make you money on the world wide web. Or maybe you have a creative skill like sewing. Even if you dont have a physical product to sell, you can still make money online marketing other people’s products, either through Direct Sales, Affiliate Marketing or Drop Shipping.

Why not get the knowledge out of your head and into a business that could earn you some cash!

Building a business on the Internet isn’t difficult like many Moms assume. If you don’t know how to build a website, you can use a “What you see is what you get” html editor. HTML is the coding language of web designers. But you don’t have to learn it in order to build a site. WYSIWYG html editors are as easy to use as word processing software. If you can write a fancy email or draft a nice letter, you can build a website.

Some website hosts even include professional looking website templates and beautiful stock photos, so you don’t even have to hire a web designer to get a great looking site online anymore.

What is more, there are resources online that can teach you what you need to know in order to get traffic to your site and market yourself. Why not ask around at a work at home Moms message board and see what other Moms in business recommend for learning these techniques?

Don’t let a small budget deter you from starting a website. For less than $25, you can buy a domain name and website hosting for one year. As you start to earn income, you can reinvest in other tools and learning that will help you grow your profits.

Building a business on the Internet has never been easier. Don’t let fear or a lack of technical know-how stop you from meeting your income goals. Reach out and ask for help and you’ll soon be up and running.

Why it is Important to Teach Your Kids About Money

Do your kids understand how money works? Do they earn an allowance for doing chores around the house? Do they baby-sit or mow lawns to earn a few extra bucks? Do you take them to your office during school breaks so they see what its like to work a real job?

Do they know the fundamentals about saving? Do they understand how to figure out which is the best deal? Do you set a good example for them about handling money?

When I was HR Manager of a consulting company, we hired a college student to intern during the summer. He came to ask me about the FICA and Medicare deductions in his first paycheck. He politely told me he didnt want this deducted anymore, and I had to keep from laughing. I started to explain to him that payroll taxes are not an option, but realized this was his first job and he had never been taught how much of his paycheck he would actually get to keep. He truly believed it all was his- no one had ever told him about Uncle Sam getting his cut first.

The statistics on college students who graduate with thousands of dollars of credit card debt are shocking. Turns out, as they signed up for classes in their freshman year, they also signed up for a credit card without understanding what it would really cost them in the long run. So before they even start earning a living or saving in a 401(k) plan, they have to pay off years of debt. Its sad that theyre still paying for the pizza they ate two years ago.

Its so important for kids, especially teenagers, to understand the concept of money and how it flows in and out of your hands throughout your lifetime. How to save it and how to spend it. Why is it important to give some back to others through charitable donations. If you dont develop an understanding of money early in life, how can you possibly be able to manage it later on?

Parents have a responsibility to make sure their kids understand how money works before they go into the world to earn that first paycheck. Having this knowledge gives them the confidence to make smart money decisions as they navigate their way in life.

My grandfather bought his house for $6,500. He had no retirement after 20+ years of working for the same employer. They gave him $100 each month in lieu of a retirement check. He saved more than $200,000 over the course of his life. My grandfather clearly had respect for money. Our culture today has lost sight of this respect.

Todays generation fears not that they wont have something, but that they wont have everything. Twenty-five percent to 50 percent of purchases are unplanned. Whats the big deal? The average American will retire with only $57,000 to live on.

Debt
Personal debt has increased by 123 percent. Do you know how long it takes to pay off your credit card if you pay only the minimal amount? 20 to 30 years!

Taxes
Most Americans severely overpay their taxes.

Care for a challenge?
Heres my personal challenge : Track your expenses for one month. Set your expenses up in categories. Write down every penny you spend. If you dont want to track your business expenses, do at least your personal expenses (date, what you spent, what you spent it on). This will help you get a really good grasp on how much youre spending.

I spoke with someone recently who has been selling stock to finance his lifestyle. Thats upside down. If youre selling stuff to support your lifestyle, youre upside down financially. Live on less than you make, save and invest with the difference. If youre doing anything else, youre upside down financially.

There are five primary factors that effect the price you pay for gas at the pump. Prices generally increase when the world crude oil market lowers their inventories. Also, when demand exceeds refinery capacity gas prices increase.

The first factor that makes up the price of gas at your local station is crude oil suppliers. This makes up about 59% of the price you pay for gas and it is determined by the world’s oil-exporting countries, particularly OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The amount of crude oil that these countries produce determines the price per barrel of oil.

The next factor that effects gas prices is the cost of refining the crude oil. This makes up about 10% of the total price of gas.

The third factor is the cost of transporting the crude oil to a refinery, then the refined gas to a distribution point and finally to your local gas station. If you are buying a brand name of gasoline, the cost that company spends in
marketing the or brand will also be added to the price you pay to buy from that brand. This makes up around 11% of the total price.

The forth factor accounts for about 20% of the total cost of gas, and it includes federal and local taxes. State, local and city taxes vary, accounting for some of the fluctuation you may see in gas prices in different geographical areas.

The fifth factor is the markup at your local gas station. Obviously your local gas station is in business to make money and has employees to pay. So you know that they must make money on every gallon of gas they sell. You may be surprised however to learn that the amount is generally not more than 10 cent and may be as low as a penny per gallon! Some states do have laws governing station markup and require a minimum percentage markup to protect small stations from being put out of business by larger companies
who may want to undercut them.

It is vitally important in this current day and age for all of us to begin taking control of our financial situation and start planning for our future, and the futures of our children.

We can no longer rely on the government to hand out an aged pension once we retire. We cannot take for granted that at the end of our working life we will be taken care of financially.

The world population is ageing, due to the baby boomer generation, and within 30 years there will be so many retired people, compared to the number of working age people, that it will be economically impossible for the government to afford to provide any reasonable source of monetary assistance for the elderly.

The government has realised this, and that is why they introduced the compulsory employer paid superannuation scheme and are even now beginning to give financial incentives to Self-Funded retirees.

Most of us have never sat down and even considered the ramifications of why the compulsory super was introduced and for many of us it is a matter of too little too late. Even for the young women in our society who have a full working life ahead of them, they still cannot rest assured of a comfortable retirement.

Why is this? It is because that unfortunately even with contributions at the current level of less than 10%, someone on an average wage who works continually for 30 years, is still going to find themselves trying to survive on an income equivalent to less than $20,000,00 per annum in todays dollars.

You will notice that I said continually working for 30 years. This is another reason why women are particularly disadvantaged. Firstly because they often have to take up to ten years leave from the workforce to raise children, secondly because women in general earn less than their male counterparts and thirdly because an enormous proportion of the women in Australia, for example, will never have received any superannuation contributions, prior to the compulsory superannuation being introduced, and will therefore not have had contributions made over their entire working life so far, giving them even less to fall back on by the time they retire.

Many women may previously not have thought of lack of superannuation contributions as being a problem, as their husbands may have been contributing to super since they first began work. Unfortunately though with the high number of divorces in this country, it is unwise to rely on the fact that your partners superannuation will be there for you in your retirement years and even if a large proportion is awarded in a settlement that it will be sufficient to sustain a comfortable retirement for any length of time.

All of these factors are why women now more than ever, need to begin taking action to build up a source of ongoing income, that will grow to such an extent, as to be able to provide a secure and happy future for themselves and their children.

It needs to be a source of income that is unrelated to physical workthat is an income that is generated from income producing assets and not from our personal efforts.
One of the best sources of creating this ongoing income stream is to begin building an investment property portfolio, also aptly paraphrased as bricks and mortar.

We need to start investing in income producing assets now, so that they will have time to grow and develop so that we will be financially independent for our retirement years.

The most important concept to grasp in relation to building wealth for retirement and for creating finances that can be directed toward charities, or helping out your family is that of Compound interest.

In mathematical terms 72 divided by Compound Interest Rate of Return = Years for Money to Double in Value.

Therefore if you have $1,000.00 invested at 10% interest, then the number of years that it will take for your money to double to $2,000.00 is 7.2. It will quadruple in 14.4 years and be worth 8 times as much in just over 21 years.

If your money is invested at 7% interest, then it will take approximately ten years to double in value. If it is invested at 5% it will double in just over fourteen years.

The two most important aspects of compounding are one: rate and two: time. The higher the rate and the longer the time something is left to compound, the greater the final result will be. This is why the sooner we start investing, the better.

The typical scenario is that you get your paycheck. After you recover from the shock at how little is left after taxes, you proceed to divvy it up among all your outstanding bills, intending to put whatever is left over into your savings.

But there never seems to be anything left over and your savings dont grow.

A better plan would be to pay yourself first. Dont let the money get into your hands.
You might find that you actually begin to grow your savings much quicker this way.

If you work for an employer with a 401K plan, the first thing you should do is to fund it to the max. If you cant afford that, at least put enough in to get the full matching contribution form your employer.

This investment is made before taxes. Your investment is larger and with the employers contribution grows quickly.

Next have a brokerage or mutual fund company debit your banking account monthly. This money should first go into an IRA if you have five years or more to go to retirement, make it a Roth IRA.

Next have a few dollars more be debited to go into a no-load, low cost mutual fund. The younger you are, the more aggressive your choice of fund can be.

After that is done, then figure out how to pay your bills and living expenses. If money is tight, cut back on your living expenses and use the extra money to pay down your debt.

Start with the lowest balance first. Once that debt is paid, take the amount of money you were paying on that debt and add it to the payment on the next lowest balance debt. Continue doing this and you can be totally debt free within 5 to 7 years.

Another version of this method is paying the highest interest rate debt first. The principal is the same, you just see more progress with the first method, although it could be more costly based on how your debt is distributed.

(If you dont believe me, get the premier version of Microsoft Money or Quicken and use the Debt Reduction module. You will be shocked at how much money you will save and how fast you can eliminate debt this way.)

The idea is to scrimp at the expense of your current lifestyle, while leaving your savings to grow and you debt to shrink.

I know many of the people reading this will scream that this is an impossible plan.
But it is quite doable with a little will power and the ability to delay gratification for a while.

The problem is that if you dont do this, your future might turn out to be very bleak.

Many homeowners make the mistake of thinking re-financing is always a viable option. However, this is not true and homeowners can actually make a significant financial mistake by re-financing at an inopportune time. There a couple of classic example of when re-financing is a mistake. This occurs when the homeowner does not stay in the property long enough to recoup the cost of re-financing and when the homeowner has had a credit score which has dropped since the original mortgage loan. Other examples are when the interest rate has not dropped enough to offset the closing costs associated with re-financing.

Recouping the Closing Costs

In determining whether or not re-financing is worthwhile the homeowner should determine how long they would have to retain the property to recoup the closing costs. This is significant especially in the case where the homeowner intends to sell the property in the near future. There are re-financing calculators readily available which will provide homeowners with the amount of time they will have to retain the property to make re-financing worthwhile. These calculators require the user to enter input such as the balance of the existing mortgage, the existing interest rate and the new interest rate and the calculator return results comparing the monthly payments on the old mortgage and the new mortgage and also supplies information about the amount of time required for the homeowner to recoup the closing costs.

When Credit Scores Drop

Most homeowners believe a drop in interest rates should immediately signal that it is time to re-finance the home. However, when these interest rates are combined with a drop in the credit score for the homeowner, the resulting re-financed mortgage may not be favorable to the homeowner. Therefore homeowners should carefully consider their credit score at the present time in comparison to the credit score at the time of the original mortgage. Depending on the amount interest rates have dropped, the homeowner may still benefit from re-financing even with a lower credit score but it is not likely. Homeowners may take advantage of free re-financing quotes to get an approximate understanding of whether or not they will benefit from re-financing.

Have the Interest Rates Dropped Enough?

Another common mistake homeowners often make in regard to re-financing is re-financing whenever there is a significant drop in interest rates. This can be a mistake because the homeowner must first carefully evaluate whether or not the interest rate has dropped enough to result in an overall cost savings for the homeowners. Homeowners often make this mistake because they neglect to consider the closing costs associated with re-financing the home. These costs may include application fees, origination fees, appraisal fees and a variety of other closing costs. These costs can add up quite quickly and may eat into the savings generated by the lower interest rate. In some cases the closing costs may even exceed the savings resulting from lower interest rates.

Re-Financing Can Be Beneficial Even When It is a Mistake

In reality re-financing is not always the ideal solution, but some homeowners may still opt for re-financing even when it is technically a mistake to do so. This classic example of this type of situation is when a homeowner re-finances to gain the benefit of lower interest rates even though the homeowner winds up paying more in the long run for this re-financing option. This may occur when either the interest rates drop slightly but not enough to result in an overall savings or when a homeowner consolidates a considerable amount of short term debt into a long term mortgage re-finance. Although most financial advisors may warn against this type of financial approach to re-financing, homeowners sometimes go against conventional wisdom to make a change which may increase their monthly cash flow by reducing their mortgage payments. In this situation the homeowner is making the best possible decision for his personal needs.

If your bills are piling up and you’re worried about losing your home, you’re not alone. As rising foreclosure rates indicate, thousands of Americans are touched by foreclosure every year. But many could be prevented, if homeowners sought help sooner from their mortgage company or through a new toll-free, confidential hotline.

Unfortunately, according to a national poll recently funded by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, 53 percent of American homeowners would not contact their mortgage company for help if faced with delinquent payments.

Fortunately, many foreclosures could be prevented if homeowners called their mortgage company or the Foundation’s toll-free hotline-(888) 995-HOPE-as soon as they recognize that they may have a problem paying their mortgage. The longer homeowners wait to call for help, the fewer options they have.

If you’re a homeowner whose debt is continuing to grow and you’re finding that you’re having more and more difficulty paying your bills, consider taking the following action:

1. Take a close look at your bills-unopened envelopes or a steadily growing pile of bills from utility companies, your mortgage company, etc., are the most immediate signs you have a problem.

2. Open letters from your mortgage company and other creditors. Don’t ignore these letters.

3. Admit you have a problem and dedicate yourself to getting help. If you avoid your mortgage company and other creditors, you may lose your home, and you will damage your credit.

4. Don’t take it on yourself. Call for help. Call your mortgage company to understand what your options are.

5. If you don’t feel comfortable calling your mortgage company, call the Homeownership Preservation Foundation at (888) 995-HOPE to receive free advice from counselors who work for HUD-certified nonprofit agencies.

6. BEWARE of phony counseling agencies (deal only with HUD-certified agencies), as well as offers in the mail or by phone that seem too good to be true.

7. Develop an action plan that focuses your resources on family essentials (shelter, food, health care, basic utilities, and transportation).

8. DO NOT sign any papers you don’t understand.

9. Determine if you have the cash flow to continue paying a mortgage or to refinance your current mortgage. This will help you determine if you should sell your home and find less expensive housing.

10. Set a long-term goal of getting and staying out of debt and ensuring steady cash flow.

When Creditors begin Calling its Time to begin Credit Repair

This article explores the need for credit repair when creditors start calling. You will see a case study of how one can begin in debt just by paying the essentials but may be able to get out of debt by adjusting a few of those essential items.

When the creditors are ringing the telephone off the hook you know it is time to repair your credit. The U. S. alone has in excess of millions of individuals and families straining to discover a way out of debt. This is the reason when you go online you see thousands of web sites that disclose they have the answer for relieving debt. Do not be fooled! A majority of the telemarketers that say they can get you out of debt can only produce a lot more problems. There is no solution for all of us, but there is a solution for us all individually.

Let us take a look at a case. Lets say that you make $220 each week per paycheck. Your debt is about $6000 and it does not appear that you can find a way out. Now lets claim that you have two cars and both are paid in full and you have a monthly rent that equals $500. We understand that you only have $650 per month to buy food, pay utilities, clothes, and other items desired to live. We can not overlook the telephone bill. This seems like an impractical state of affairs but in reality there is a solution available.

Now if your telephone invoice is about $80 per month and you pay out about $60 per week on groceries and about $160 per month on utilities, you will notice that you will have barely a dime left at the end of the month. Thus, the answer is getting a job that pays more, looking for a low-income residence that bases the rent on your income and using less utilities per month.

In todays time you will pay out $60 simply on groceries and not have enough to make it to the next week. Thus, is it feasible that you can eat foods that are inexpensive and last longer? When you are broke you have to live like a person who is broke. The sadness about people who struggle is that they regularly envy or strive to buy items they do not truly need. Rather than paying the bills on time, they regularly pay a portion of the bill and purchase items that are not needed.

If you have two cars and are a lone individual it is smart to put one of the cars up for sale and use the balance toward the bills. You may notice from this deduction that more money is needed to live. Why are you paying $400 for rent when there is many sources on hand that present rent for less? Now let us twist this around.

From here on out, we will give you tips on how you may be able to get out of debt and begin to keep a little money for yourself. This article should become a little more helpful to you.

What if you effectively rented a low-income apartment? Lets say that your rent amount is lowered to $300 per month. This leaves you an additional $200 per month to purchase groceries, pay utilities, pay your telephone bill, pay car insurance and have a few bucks left over each month. This is one answer and it does not produce much but it does produce a small reward. Now if you can lower your utilities to around $100 per month that is another $60 you could pay out on bills.

If your credit history is delinquent, yet you are not sinking in quicksand you might qualify for a credit card. The answer is not to get the credit card to purchase items, instead it is to get a credit card that will help you pay your monthly bills and allow room to repay the credit card. Ensure the credit card has low interest rates and no annual fees attached. If you can get by with no credit card, all the better, but in todays society it is nearly impossible now to go without a card.

If you can get a job with higher wages then this is beneficial too. The disadvantage is when people get better paying jobs, they regularly take it for granted and land further in debt. The more money you make the more you spend. It pays to be cautious with your money and keep aware of your credit situation to maintain a repair in place. When creditors are calling, it is time to fix your credit so get ahead of the game before the telephone starts ringing.

No matter which way you look at it, having a firm understanding of credit repair will benefit you in the long run, even if it is just slightly.